PLA bets on educated draftees
The PLA constantly receives new weapons and military equipment, the operation of which requires special skills and abilities. In this regard, the Chinese military department notes that urban young people with secondary education or even a bachelor’s degree should go into the army. It is they who in the future should become the core of the armed forces mastering new sophisticated equipment. This year, military registration and enlistment offices of cities of central subordination (Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai and Chongqing) will begin a kind of experiment: in these four cities only conscripts with a secondary education certificate or a higher education diploma will be able to join the army. Young people who do not have such documents will remain “civilian”.
It should be noted that the new policy regarding the selection of recruits has not only positive aspects. Not all school graduates and recent students have good health and good physical fitness. The PLA command was forced to adjust the requirements for draftees so that the army would not be left without recruits with a good education. Some of the pre-existing restrictions are relaxed, others are lifted. All these measures are expected to help fill the ranks of the armed forces with recruits with certificates and diplomas.
Earlier, recruiting guys less than 162 in height did not accept PLA ranks. Now this restriction is reduced to 160, see. For girls, the height of growth is lowered from 160 to 158, see Significantly expanded allowable weights for the recruit. Also, medical commissions will now be less strict regarding the sight of draftees. First time in stories Under certain reservations, the People’s Liberation Army of China is allowed to call individuals with diagnoses of “schizophrenia,” “depression,” or “dissociative disorder.” In addition, in the army for the first time there will be fighters with tattoos. Previously, such “unmasking signs” did not allow a conscript to join the army. Now the draftee can become a soldier if the tattoo on the open part of the body is no larger than 2 cm in diameter. For tattoos covered with clothes, the maximum size is limited to 10. Despite the softening of requirements, the PLA command still considers tattoos to be a thing that spoils the look of a soldier and the army as a whole.
So far, the command of the Chinese army has changed only the requirements for recruits. Other aspects of the service are still the same. Former schoolchildren and students who will be able to join the army this year will have to serve for two years. Some of them, as always happens, will remain on long service. If this year’s experiment in the cities of central subordination is successful, then this practice will be extended to other regions of China. At the same time, military registration and enlistment offices are unlikely to lack recruits - in China military service is prestigious, which is why many young people tend to become recruits.
There is reason to believe that in the future the requirements for draftees may be changed again. According to the PLA newspaper, Zefan Junbao, over the past two decades, the average height of soldiers increased by 2 cm, and the average waist circumference - 5. If this trend continues, the military will have to change the requirements for recruits regarding height and weight again. In addition, the designers of military equipment will have to design new combat vehicles, taking into account the fact that the soldiers have grown and are in need of large volumes.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in his statements repeatedly stressed the importance of improving the living conditions and service of the fighters of the People’s Liberation Army of China. Implementing the instructions of the country's leadership, the army command in the future intends to increase spending on the cultural life of military personnel. It is proposed to approximately double the corresponding article of the military budget. Additional funds will be purchased speakers, video equipment, musical instruments, etc. Such a “satisfaction of the spiritual and cultural needs of the soldiers” is expected to “enhance the cohesion and morale of the army.”
Changing requirements for recruits and improving the conditions of service due to additional investments in the soldiers' leisure time should have a beneficial effect on the state of the army. However, there are grounds for some concerns. Probably, the political directors of the Chinese army will soon have more work to do. In the new call, the number of former students should increase, and they are known to be prone to “free-thinking”. Apparently, the PLA command has already assessed all the risks and is ready to put up with them in order to upgrade the armed forces and master new sophisticated equipment.
The first conscription company, conducted in accordance with the updated requirements for recruits, starts on August 1. Assess the effect of the proposals used by the military no earlier than next year. In the meantime, China’s military registration and enlistment offices are preparing to receive conscripts and send future soldiers to the unit.
On the materials of the sites:
http://itar-tass.com/
http://russian.people.com.cn/
http://rg.ru/
http://chinababe.ru/
http://centrasia.ru/
- Ryabov Kirill
- EPA / STRINGER
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